Friday, October 9, 2009
National Skyline And So It Begins: Folks Already Concocting 'Best of the Aughts' Album Countdowns
Posted by D. Patrick Rodgers on Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Hey guys, we're just about to carve yet another decade-sized notch in the belt of human history. I guess it hadn't really dawned on me yet--or you either, I'll bet--but the culturally confused decade known as The Aughts is in its final months. And you know what that means: Time for lists! As everyone knows, decade-end lists are exactly 10 times as important as year-end lists, and they pander even harder to a given magazine/website's niche readership.
Wanna see whether or not the staff at Uncut is really old? Wanna see how many bands in Pitchfork's 20 favorite records of the '00s have animals in their names? (Hint: It's more than two.) Not that it matters. This is totally a moot exercise, since a Mayan dragon's going to swallow the sun in 2012. Or something.
Uncut's list of the "150 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century" can be found only in print, but their Top 20 is as follows:
20 Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
19 Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
18 Kate Bush - Aerial
17 The White Stripes - Elephant
16 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
15 Radiohead - In Rainbows
14 Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
13 Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
12 Portishead - Third
11 The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
10 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
09 Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
08 Bob Dylan - Modern Times
07 Arcade Fire - Funeral
06 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
05 The Strokes - Is This It
04 Brian Wilson - Smile
03 Wilco - A Ghost is Born
02 Bob Dylan - Love and Theft
01 The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Note the presence of two Bob Dylan records in the Top 10, not to mention two White Stripes records and exactly the wrong Wilco album. I'd hear an argument for In Rainbows being No. 15, but not without Kid A in a slot somewhere between there and No. 1. Alright, that list is making me feel grumpy. Let's turn to Pitchfork, who concocted a list of the 200 "Greatest Albums of the '00s." The Top 20:
20 Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
19 Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
18 Kanye West - Late Registration
17 LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
16 Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
15 The Knife - Silent Shout
14 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
13 OutKast - Stankonia
12 The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
11 Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
10 The Avalanches - Since I Left You
09 Panda Bear - Person Pitch
08 Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun
07 The Strokes - Is This It
06 Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
05 Jay-Z - The Blueprint
04 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
03 Daft Punk - Discovery
02 Arcade Fire - Funeral
01 Radiohead - Kid A
They got Wilco right this time, but that Spoon record? Any Sufjan Stevens record? Alright, alright. No one's going to be 100 percent satisfied, and I know the point of lists like these is to generate debate; to inspire comments and get folks composing their own lists. But it seems to me that when a staff compiles a Top Whatever and starts making compromises to squeeze in a hip-hop record here and an electro record there (but no metal?), they end up watering the list down and canceling themselves out.
Until I see a bit more Built to Spill and a bit more Elliott Smith, I'm probably just going to wait for a Top 100 Greatest Rock Lists of the Past Century list or something. Hell, it makes more sense than a list with Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Green Day's American Idiot and (somehow) three Radiohead records in the Top 10.
Comments (5)
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Silent Shout is one of the greatest records of all time, i would have ranked it higher and Discovery would be my top choice, hands down. although late in the the decade, i would nominate Myths of the Near Future by the Klaxons & Metronomy's Nights Out which were the best records of 07 & 08.
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While we're at it, let's do the nineteen-aughts. Bert Williams would have to be right up there.
Until I see a bit more Built to Spill
There last great album was Keep it Like a Secret - which was released in early '99.
ps. I've not yet heard the new one.
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